Proceedings. Women’s Worlds 99, Seventh International Interdisciplinary
Congress on Women. 20 -26 June 1999, Tromsø, Norway.
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THE HEROINE AS THE EPONYM OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
FRENCH NOVEL
Gül Tekay Baysan*
INTRODUCTION
There are quite a large number of eponymous novels in the nineteenth
century French literature. The reason may be sought in the importance given to
the individual. Many of these eponymous novels carry a woman’s name. Can
we deduce from this fact that the eponymous heroines have a role to play in the
respective novels as individuals? I will try to show that they do not. To be able
to show this, I will follow an approach where certain eponymous novels are
compared critically, and certain conclusions are drawn based on such a
comparison.
As stated, there are many novels that carry the name of the heroines as
their titles. I had to both restrict my study to a manageable number and still
cover one example from most important novelists. Eventually, I selected nine
such novels. I will be able to demonstrate that in most of the books examined,
the male character is focused on in the beginning and in the end so the
heroine's fictional existence is relative to that of a man's. Apart from their
fictional relativity, our eponymous heroines have some common particularities
as dependency, mystery, sacrifice and lack of education. Therefore, it can be
stated that the fact that these novels are entitled after their “heroines” is a
literary illusion.
This illusion reflects the status of the nineteenth century woman: she is
still not an individual. Despite their roles in the Revolution, women were not
able to gain their emancipation. Many of those who "challenged the nature"
*
Gazi University, Department of French, Ankara Turkey. The subject was inspired by a
suggestion of Professor Dr. Ekrem Aksoy of Hacettepe University. Professor Dr. Jale Erlat of
the same university, Associate Professor Dr. Nurcan Özkaplan and Research Assistant Dr.
Aslı Tarakçıoğlu from Gazi University read the initial manuscript and suggested corrections. My
husband Candan Baysan helped with typesetting and formatting and also discussed the whole
of the paper on various occasions. I thank them all.
and "acted as men" were accused and punished.1 Despite their relentless
struggle supported also by feminist philosophers like Condorcet, women had to
wait for long to enjoy their rights of equal education and full citizenship. If we
compare them with their ancestors, the "précieuses" of the seventeenth and the
“ladies” of the eighteenth centuries, who represent a small but efficient minority,
we can even speak of a degradation in women's condition. 2 Later on, Napoléon
who wanted to efface the gains of the Revolution, shared its approach
regarding women. Inspired by their distant and late ancestors as well as from
the new social thought of the epoch, the nineteenth century women continued
to seek independence despite repression and mockery. 3 However, the century
is still male-dominant and our eponymous novels reflect the social reality;
women’s muted inferiority.
This is, on the one hand, due to the fears of a still turbulent regime
reacting against a decade of Revolution, and on the other, the misogynistic side
of the Revolution itself adopting mostly Rousseau's thought that was against
women's emancipation.
In his educational theory elaborated in Emile, Rousseau proposes a
negative education for Emile, child of nature, future citizen and the contrary for
Sophie, child of male dominant society, future spouse and mother. Wishing to
create a virtuous society by liberating men from all prejudices, Rousseau wants
to provide their happiness by reinforcing the slavery of women. According to
Rousseau, women are naturally dependent on men and this must be
maintained for utilitarian purposes. Sophie's fictional existence is relative to
Emile's, and her education shall preserve her status quo and prepare her for
1
2
Elisabeth Badinter in Paroles d'hommes 1790-1793, Paris, P.O.L., 1989, tells about the
struggle of feminists during French Revolution and how women's emancipation movement was
oppressed. See especially pp. 184-186, the article cited from "La feuille de salut public",
concerning the execution of three women who intervened with men's affairs.
For detailed information on "précieuses" of 17th and "grandes dames" of 18th centuries; the
influence of the Salons on intellectual life in France; and the works of the epoch regarding
women, see:
Badinter, Elisabeth, L'Amour en Plus, Paris, Flammarion, 1980, and Emilie, Emilie ou l'ambition
féminine au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Flammarion, 1983.
Bozbeyoğlu, Sibel, "Education des Femmes au XVIIe Siècle", Frankofoni 7, Ankara, 1995, pp.
165-174.
Erlat, Jale, La Condition de la Femme dans les Contes de Voltaire, Thesis, Université Paris X,
Nanterre, 1978.
3
Especially Madame Roland was an encouraging example for them. She had influenced politics
and was executed during the Revolution, being accused of destroying the nature with her
masculine attitudes. The progressive doctrines were also adopted by many women. Fourrier
protested against women’s slavery and the promotion of women is an integral part of SaintSimon’s doctrine. See Bolster, Richard. Stendhal, Balzac et le féminisme romantique. Minard,
Paris, 1970, pp. 17, 18, 23 and 24.
1
duties related to her gender role.1 He depicts the ideal woman as modest and
shy so that she can disguise her feelings, can be self-sacrificing besides being
relative and dependent, and is educated only in a very specific sense.
Moreover, he prefers an ignorant woman to a “blue-stocking” who would cause
her own unhappiness along with that of her environment. The definitions of our
female characters are usually in parallel with this generalisation.
Nine eponymous novels that are examined in this study reflect women's
social status. They are presented in chronological order with their summaries
that contain a critical analysis of the eponymous heroines' common
particularities. The nine novels are: Atala (1801), Corrine (1807), Armance
(1827), Lélia (1833), Eugénie Grandet (1833), The Lady of the Camellias
(1848), Madame Bovary (1857), Thérèse Raquin (1867) and Madame
Gervaisais (1869).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE NINE NOVELS
In what follows, I will give brief descriptions of the novels I have selected
for review. Here, I do not mean to offer full summaries of the books and/or their
plots but rather to describe the heroines vis-a-vis the heroes, and the female
particularities in order to facilitate the critical comparison that follows.
Atala of Chateaubriand presents first Chactas, an old Indian man who
retrospects to tell his own story to René. Chactas is the son of the chief of a
tribe. He loses his father in war and is brought up by a Spanish man. On the
way home to find his mother, he is enslaved and condemned to death by the
rival tribe.
The eponymous heroine, Atala intervenes in the story as a part of the
adventure of the hero. All information on her is that she is the daughter of the
chief of the tribe that captured Chactas, and that she is brought up as a
Christian by her mother. By pity, she wants to save Chactas but he refuses to
escape alone. Atala has to follow him and a romance begins in the forest.
Chactas continues to direct the intrigue by seducing the young girl. After a weak
resistance, Atala obeys her lover.2 However, something mysterious surrounds
1
Rousseau creates Sophie in the fifth chapter after he is finished with Emile's education, saying
that Emile was promised a companion and Sophie "has to be given to him". According to
Rousseau, "woman is made specially to please man". "For them to have what is necessary to
their station, they depend on us to give it to them". Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile or On
Education. Penguin Classics, London, 1991, pp. 357-358, 364.
2
Chateaubriand. Atala, René. Delmas. 1951, p.64. In Atala, Chateaubriand seems to follow
Rousseau's "instructions", who says in Emile regarding man and woman, "One ought to be
active and strong, the other passive and weak. One must necessarily will and be able, it
suffices that the other put up little resistance". Rousseau adds: "Whether the human female
shares man's desires or not and wants to satisfy them or not, she repulses him and always
2
Atala. At last, she poisons herself and reveals her secret. Her mother dedicated
Atala to virginity during birth-labour, so she commits suicide in order to pay for
her sin. The tragic end of Atala is not the end of the story of Chactas. The
young man has a long life to live. After having buried his lover, he will find his
homeland and his mother. He will die very old in a massacre. One is left
bewildered to figure out why the novel was named Atala and not Chactas.
In Corrine, Mme de Staël presents first the male character, Lord Oswald
Nelvil. This young Scotchman travels in regret for his past misdeeds; his father
who wanted to marry him to the girl he chose, died after learning his relation
with another woman. Oswald is a romantic hero, delicate in physical and moral
health.
The eponymous heroine is presented in the second chapter, thanks to
the journey of Oswald, who sees Corrine while she is being crowned as the
most talented woman of Rome. As such, Corrine appears as an Antique semigoddess. Poet, author and actress, she is independent and magnificent. Her
origins, even her family name are unknown.
They fall in love. However, Oswald has contradictory feelings about this
mysterious woman. He admires her genius and her beauty but he is also afraid
of such an independent and superior nature in a woman.1 According to Oswald,
despite her power, Corrine still needs to be protected by a man.
The secrets of Corrine, as well as her sacrifice, are revealed in the
second volume of the novel which flashes back to her past: After her mother's
death, she left Italy, her motherland, to rejoin his father in Britain. Unhappy with
her reserved provincial life, she left Britain after her father's death. Promising
her step-mother not to cause a scandal which would harm her half-sister, she
acted as if she were dead and left everything behind; her name, her heritage.
She became famous in Italy by her talents. Her half-sister is the girl to whom
Oswald's father expected to marry his son. Corrine's revelation urges Oswald to
return to his hometown promising to write to Corrine. However, he adapts
himself to the reserved fiancée.
Corrine, once independent and talented, becomes the slave of her love;
forgets her fame and her liberty. She goes to Britain to witness the disloyalty of
her lover. Corrine can no more create any work of art; she feels frustrated,
chooses an isolated life and dies soon.
Armance of Stendhal also starts by the presentation of the male
character. Every information concerning Octave Malivert, his noble family, his
defends herself —but not always with the same force" pp. 358-359.
1
"He wondered whether it was inconsistency or superiority that tied together so many
contradictory qualities... Her coquetry was so perfectly dignified that it compelled as much
respect as the strictest reserve". Madame de Staël. Corrine or Italy. Rutgers University Press,
London, 1987, p. 38.
3
education, his moral and physical portraits are in the first chapter. He suffers
from melancholy, which reveals his mysterious character that is uncommon to
other heroes. News about a fortune makes Octave popular among the noble
girls. But his melancholy becomes deeper and he scorns his environment.
The name of the heroine is mentioned in the second chapter. Among all
the girls only Armance who used to be Octave's best friend pays no attention to
his fortune. Only in the fourth chapter, her age, and in the fifth, her origins are
revealed along with her portrait. Armance de Zohiloff is the daughter of an aunt
of Octave, and a Russian colonel. Orphan and poor, she is protected by her
aunts.
Armance loves Octave discretely. However she is too proud to marry her
rich cousin.1 Octave also loves Armance but his love makes him more
desperate than ever. Indeed, he is impotent. Pushed by Octave's mother and a
coincidence they have to declare their mutual love. Octave, as mysterious and
proud as the heroine, marries Armance in order to leave her as a rich widow.
He commits suicide during their honeymoon and leaves all his heritage to
Armance with such a condition that she should remarry. Armance refuses it and
joins a convent.
George Sand, in Lélia, presents first the eponymous heroine. However,
she is described by five different persons. According to Stenio, the young poet
who loves her desperately, this mysterious, proud and cold woman is Satan
and Angel at the same time. As to Magnus, the priest mad with love of Lélia,
she evokes evil by her cold beauty and odious unbelief. She is the Vice, the
Satan itself. But Trenmor, her best friend admires the virtue and the intelligence
of Lélia and describes her as a magnificent woman. Lélia, describes herself as
an ordinary woman without any mystery. She is a romantic heart suffering from
the malady of the day, "mal du siècle".
As to the author, the fifth describer, this intellectual woman is a talented
poet and translator. She is strong and courageous; she believes in God but in a
revolted way. She has no prejudices and keeps her friendship with Trenmor, a
gambler and an old convict despised by the society. 2 We learn the reason
which makes her so mysterious. Victim of the "mal du siècle", she could never
touch the ideal romantic love and she became cold.
1
Armance creates an imaginary fiancé to disguise her love for Octave. Stendhal. Romans et
Nouvelles Tome I: Armance. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Gallimard, 1952, p.78. One cannot
stop without referring here to Rousseau who prefers a disguised even lying woman to the one
praised by her "frankness and rectitude" and "who had made herself a man". Emile, p. 386.
2
Lélia condemns the duality in moral values of her society by saying that "people tolerate the
sinner when he is on his feet but crush him when he is down" Sand, George. Lélia. Garnier,
Paris, 1960, p. 35.
4
When Lélia suffers from cholera; the doctor, afraid of the mockeries of
an intelligent woman, refuses to help her. Magnus, also doesn't pray for the
moribund thinking that she would turn him to a non-believer. Lélia cures herself
by natural medicines and her own moral strength.
Stenio commences a miserable existence for not having been loved by
Lélia. The cold kiss she gave him is the beginning of the fall for the young poet.
He leads a sinful life after having slept with a courtesan, Lélia's sister, and later
he commits suicide. Lélia, while weeping after the young poet, is killed by
Magnus, who wants to save the world. Her friend Trenmor and her killer
Magnus survive Lélia.
Eugénie Grandet of Balzac introduces first the father Grandet who made
a big fortune by his indecent speculations. The fact that he has a daughter is
revealed in the story of the financial success of the father. We have a detailed
physical and moral portrait of the ex-mayor. The name of Eugénie is first
mentioned, and then only indirectly, when the names of the candidates who
fight for the hand of the rich girl are given. All we know about her is that she is a
slave to a despotic father —like other women of the household— and despite
being the only inheritor of a great fortune, she is living in half misery.
On her twenty-third birthday there isn't still much information on the
heroine. However her docility is revealed by her look at her father asking for his
permission to accept a present. Eugénie who does not know about the great
fortune of her father also ignores everything related to money. The same
evening, she meets her cousin Charles for the first time. Her physical and moral
portraits are painted first nearly in the half of the novel when she falls in love
with this handsome Parisian. The affection of the girl grows after having learnt
about the bankruptcy and suicide of Charles's father.
Eugénie secretly gives Charles all the gold she has received as
presents. The sacrifice of Eugénie creates an innocent love. They promise an
eternal love before Charles goes to make his fortune in Indies. The courage of
Eugénie results in a tragedy when her father wants to check her coins. The
punishment of Eugénie1 will cause the death of her ill mother. In the following
years, her father teaches her how to manage their money and dies leaving her
alone with an immense fortune. Eugénie continues to lead a simple but
charitable life.
At thirty she still expects some news from Charles who has become rich
by an indecent commerce. However he wants to marry a noble girl. On his
1
Father Grandet condemns Eugénie to stay in her room and puts her on bread and water.
Eugénie doesn't accept to take action against him. She declares: "My father is master in his
own house. As long as I live in this house I must obey him". Balzac. Eugénie Grandet. Oxford
University Press, 1990, p.152. Like Sophie who "suffers the wrongs of others with patience",
Eugénie suffers the injustice of her father. Rousseau affirms that "Woman is made to yield to
man and to endure even his injustice". Emile, p. 396.
5
return to Paris, he refuses to pay the debt remaining from his father. To achieve
her lover's happiness, Eugénie pays his creditors instead. Though wishing to
join a convent, she obeys her priest and marries one of the candidates but
making him promise to respect her virginity and lives a saint’s life.
The Lady of the Camellias of Alexandre Dumas-fils announces that the
heroine who gives her nickname to the novel is already dead. All information
about her is based on the men who knew her. The first concrete presentation of
the Lady of the Camellias is postponed to the sixth chapter and even this
existence reveals a non-existence. Marguerite, Lady of the Camellias, appears
first as a decomposing corpse dug out of her grave so that it can be moved to
another one.1
As to the real existence of the heroine, it takes place in the seventh
chapter. Her story is told to the author by her lover, Armand, so it consists of a
small period lived mostly near the hero.
The heroine herself intervenes in the twenty-fifth chapter through her
diary. Falling in love with Armand, she tries to live honestly and secretly sells
her jewelry to continue to live with him. She suddenly leaves Armand upon the
request of his lover’s father. It is only after the death of the heroine that the
young man learns about her sacrifice. Once again, the hero of the novel
survives the heroine. Indeed, the only place occupied by the eponymous
heroine all through the novel is in the world of specters.
The first Bovary presented by Flaubert in Madame Bovary is Charles.
First chapter of the novel is dedicated to his origins, his age, his failed
education in school of medicine, his parents' social status and his portrait.
Charles Bovary finally gets a diploma and marries an elderly rich widow.
Emma Roualt, future Madame Bovary is presented in the second chapter. Her
presentation lacks a detailed portrait and we have a superficial information on
her past and education.
The reader gets to know the heroine in the fifth chapter. Charles marries
Emma after the death of his first wife. So Emma becomes a fictional personality
after becoming Madame Bovary. Her unsatisfied character also reveals itself
relative to her husband's plain personality. It is by the sixth chapter that the
personality, past and education of the heroine are described. Mme Bovary is a
dreamer, a very sensual woman due to the illusions she had from her convent
education and her lectures.2 She has no life of her own and no hope of
1
The non-existence of the heroine is strengthened by the leitmotiv of death: She reads "Manon
Lescaut", novel of a fatal love all through the book; Armand learns from a friend during the first
real appearance of the heroine on scene that "the poor girl won't last long" Dumas-fils. The
Lady of the Camellias. New American Library, New York, 1972, p. 56.
2
"They were all love, lovers, sweethearts, persecuted ladies... gentlemen brave as lions, gentle
as lambs, virtuous as no one ever was, always well dressed and weeping like fountains".
6
satisfying her passions. All her happiness from there on will depend on the
success of her husband.
Besides her husband, Madame Bovary depends on three other men.
Rodolphe and Leon, her disloyal lovers and finally Lheureux, the merchant who
abuses her ambition of luxury. Emma's life is full of lies and secret relations.
After the decision of seizure caused by Lheureux, Emma poisons herself. The
death of Mme Bovary will not be the end of her novel which will continue three
more chapters to end with the death of Charles.
Thérèse Raquin of Zola starts directly by describing the eponymous
heroine. Thérèse is presented with a very detailed physical portrait which is also
a sign of the moral structure of a hopeless woman. Her name and past are
given along with that of her husband's. Thérèse was born in Oran from an
Algerian mother who died soon. Her father who was a French officer took her to
France to the custody of his sister whose name is also Thérèse. He died a few
years later. The orphan, brought up by her aunt, had to share the destiny of her
ill cousin Camille and in spite of her vivacity, she had to marry him because of
gratitude. The family moved from province to Paris upon the caprices of Camille
without even thinking of consulting Thérèse. She used to be so silent and
docile.1
In Paris, Thérèse and her aunt run a shop in a boring passage and the
family lives upstairs. Thérèse is pushed by boredom and physical hunger to
Laurent, an old fellow of Camille. During a cruise on Seine, Laurent kills Camille
and Thérèse consents to this crime by remaining passive and silent. After a
long period of mourning, Thérèse and Laurent get married but only to confront
together the remorse they have. At night, the specter of Camille lies between
them. They both want to kill each other in order to get rid of the remorse but at
last, they suicide together. The heroine dies like in most of the novels, but, for a
change, the novel ends with her death.
In Madame Gervaisais, Goncourt brothers start their novel with a direct
presentation of the heroine. We also observe a development in the social
status of the female character. She travels, a particularity created only by
woman novelists and she is the only heroine who could separate from her
husband. There is no mystery in her existence. She is an intelligent and
educated woman, and a very kind person in her limited social relations. She
lives alone with her child to whom she devoted all her love. Madame Gervaisais
admires Italian art and history and settles in Rome. This intellectual,
independent and talented woman suffers from a mental disease due to her
unhappy experiences. To make her beloved father happy, she got married to a
rich and successful man. The husband, overdone by the intellectual superiority
Flaubert. Madame Bovary. Everyman's Library, New York, 1966, p. 30.
1
"She had always shown such passive obedience that her aunt and husband no longer
bothered to ask her opinion". Zola. Thérèse Raquin. Penguin Classics, Middlesex, 1962, p. 43.
7
of his wife, turned her life to a hell. The only consolation of her marriage was
the boy, who, unfortunately couldn't follow a normal mental development. But
Madame Gervaisais was strong enough to separate from her husband.
Madame Gervaisais who has a very critical intelligence and a radical
anti-clerical attitude, loses her particularities because of her maternal affection.
Following a very serious illness of her child, she desperately visits Madonna,
and the cure of the child makes her adopt Catholicism which turns into an
obsession for her later on. Becoming a toy in the hands of the priests, she quits
everything. Her dependence on the clergy and mostly her giving up on the
1
maternal affection aggravate her mental illness. At last, she returns to her
normal attitude of a loving mother without leaving her new religion and, dies
after having accomplished her last wish of seeing the Pope.
CRITICAL COMPARISON OF THE NOVELS AND THEIR "HEROINES"
After having reviewed these novels we can easily find some
resemblances among their heroines. Though hinted to be the leading
characters by giving their names to the novels, the heroines' presentation and
the lack of their past vis-a-vis to that of the heroes’, show their fictional relativity.
These heroines’ dependence, their sacrifice, their mysterious existence, and
the lack of education in most of them also reveal women's condition in general.
In what follows, the above-listed generalisations will be used to develop
a critical comparison of the nine novels. Finally, based on the comparison of the
nine novels, certain general conclusions will be drawn.
Women are Fictionally Relative
I use the term fictional relativity to describe the phenomena where the
presence of the female leading character is given in such a way that it is either
dependent and/or "with respect to" a male character. The women are written
about in a way that is in relation to men. They are described only relatively; that
is, they are fictionally relative. For example, they may be absent in the
beginning and/or the end of the novels while the story develops or continues
around the male character.
1
Her confessor tries to move Mme Gervaisais away from her son by pointing out "the degree of
love permitted to the mothers by religion". De Goncourt, Jules et Edmond. Madame
Gervaisais. Alphonse de Lemerre, Paris, 1892, p. 263.
8
Among the nine novels, only three present the eponymous heroine
immediately: Lélia, Thérèse Raquin and Madame Gervaisais. However, Lélia's
first presentation is through a letter of Stenio, the dominant male character on
whom the novel focuses. Her personality also differs relatively to the describers'
point of view. Apart from the narrator and herself, Lélia is presented by three
male characters of the novel. In Atala, Chactas, in Corrine, Oswald, in Armance
Octave, in Eugénie Grandet the father Grandet, and in Madame Bovary Charles
Bovary are presented first. Especially Atala's and the Lady of the Camellias'
non-existence are announced in the beginning of the novels; they are
presented as already dead. Indeed Atala exists only to play a role in the life of
the real hero. Moreover, the Lady of the Camellias' first appearance on scene is
in the sixth chapter and as a cadaver got out of her grave. Corrine appears in
the second chapter thanks to the journey of Oswald. Armance as a personality
is introduced in the second chapter but her origins and portrait are described in
the fourth and fifth chapters.
So, in seven novels the heroine's existence as a fictional person
depends relatively to that of the hero’s; her lover's, her father's or her
husband's. These women are defined in terms of the men who are the real
fictional personalities and most of our heroines exist thanks to the adventures
of the heroes. The ends of the novels also add to the relativity of the heroines.
All the heroines die, except Armance and Eugénie. However, the lives of these
two women are not in the real world. Armance buries herself alive in a convent
and Eugénie lives as a saint; even married, she preserves her virginity. If she
doesn't enter the convent, it is to obey the priest.
Furthermore, in many novels, the hero survives the heroine. Having
buried Atala, Chactas lives many decades and dies as a handicapped old man.
Oswald, the fragile and melancholic lover starts a new life after having caused
the death of strong and lively Corrine. Armand, cured of his regret for
accelerating the death of Marguerite also survives her. Charles Bovary dies a
few months after Emma. Though Sténio dies a few hours before her, Lélia is
survived by two other male characters, one being her killer.
Among all male characters, only Octave and the father Grandet die
before the heroines, but as we mentioned before, Armance and Eugénie do not
live for themselves. As to Thérèse and Mme Gervaisais, who seem to be the
only genuine heroines, their novels end with their death.
Women are Dependent
Most of those heroines are dependent and furthermore, those who try to
protect their liberty fail. The whole life of Atala is shaped by her dependence
and passivity. She has to escape with Chactas to save his life. She is split
between her dependence on her religion and on her lover. Corrine is a critical
9
novel about the prejudices concerning emancipated women and the heroine is
first presented as socially, economically and, intellectually independent. Later
on, through love, she becomes dependent on Oswald and on his prejudices
which cause her decadence and death. Armance, is dependent first financially
then on out-fashioned prejudices of her class. Eugénie is the most dependent.
She first depends on her father to the extent of being just a subject. After his
death, despite her immense fortune, the social and religious rules guide her
without exception. The Lady of the Camellias, as a courtesan, depends on
many men who pay her and, then on Armand who will injure her. Madame
Bovary also depends on the men around her, on her husband whose failure
makes her unhappy; on two disloyal lovers and finally on Lhereux who causes
her final decline. Thérèse Raquin is not free; she is orphan and poor, she has
to live together with a man whose nature is in a sharp contrast with her's. An
independent woman, Mme Gervaisais loses her reason after becoming
dependent on the clergy.
Lélia is the only heroine who lives and dies as an independent woman
but her freedom which reinforces her social and intellectual superiority on many
men around her causes her tragic end. She is killed by Magnus who cannot
stand her nerve.
Women are Mysterious
Nearly all eponymous heroines are mysterious. They have a secret
which may cause their unhappiness and/or death. The secret of Atala is
revealed by her suicide; she was dedicated to virginity on birth; violating the
sacred wish of her mother, she punished herself. Corrine's origins are unknown,
this is the choice of the young woman who wants to protect her liberty in a free
country far away from prejudices. The revelation of her secret is also the
beginning of her decline which will lead her to death. Armance secretly loves
Octave but pretends not to love him because of her pride and creates an
imaginary fiancé. Eugénie loves her cousin, gives all her money to him; the
revelation of her secret causes her punishment. However, her greatest secret
for her cousin is her fortune. If it were known by Charles, her life would have
changed. The Lady of the Camellias' secret is learnt by Armand who finds her
diary after her death; she left her lover not for a life of prosperity but on the
demand of Armand's father. Emma Bovary’s secrets are known to the readers
but they are learnt by Charles after her suicide; she had two lovers and spent
enormously to cause the ruin of the house. Thérèse Raquin's secret is the
greatest: consenting the murder of her husband by her lover by staying passive
and silent. Although this is not a secret for the reader, it is for her aunt. Thérèse
is near to her end when her aunt finds out her crime. Among all, Lélia is the
most mysterious heroine, her origins are unknown but her greatest secret is the
one who makes her and her lovers unhappy. She is cold. Only one of the
heroes has a great secret; Octave. He is impotent. Octave's secret doesn't
10
make an exception because he cannot be ranged among the ideal nineteenth
century male protagonists.
The development of the social status of women is reflected by the strong
and frank Mme Gervaisais who has no mystery, no secret.
Women Sacrifice
Sacrifice as a virtue of the characters of the heroes or the heroines is a
common element of novels. However, the sense in which I use it is slightly
different. I use it to show a deed that damages and/or hurts the person who
sacrifices and does not bring a benefit for any.
Atala sacrifices her virginity for her love, then, to pay for her sin, she
sacrifices her life to her superstition. Corrine sacrifices her freedom and her
genius for Oswald and dies because of the disloyalty of her lover. Armance
refuses the inheritance and joins the convent after her husband's death.
Eugénie is forced by his father, to sacrifice her youth; she disobeys him once
and gives all her coins to Charles, this is a big sacrifice, she is aware of the
punishment; by altruism, she pays the debts of her lover in order to guarantee
his marriage with another girl; indeed, her life is a sacrifice, she lives and ages
as a saint. Lélia chooses a man that is isolated by the society as her best friend
and therefore strengthens her position in life as a rebel. The lady of the
Camellias, renounces the luxurious life of a courtesan to live with Armand, and
she shows herself disloyal for the happiness of her lover. Madame Bovary gives
up her established way of life in order to run away with Rodolphe and later
spends all her wealth on her other lover Leon, to the extent of bankruptcy.
Thérèse has to marry her ill cousin Camille to merit the kindness of her aunt.
Mme Gervaisais marries a man whom she doesn't love at all in order to make
her father happy; she sacrifices her anti-clerical principles for his son and later
on, she has to renounce the love of her child by the zeal of a devoted woman;
this latest sacrifice contrary to her nature causes her death.
Women are Uneducated
Most of the heroines' education and intellectual capacity are either
unsatisfactory, or unknown to the author. However, we can realise how ignorant
Atala is by her superstition. There is no information on Armance's education.
And the same is true for Thérèse. Armance's unnecessary pride and Thérèse's
impasse however show us the negative effects of women's education. Eugénie
is brought up as a slave just as her mother is. All she knows, as a good
Christian girl, is to obey the cruel rules of a selfish father. She is so ignorant
that she has no concept about money so she can't even evaluate the
magnitude of her fortune. As for Madame Bovary, she is the victim of a false
11
education of the convent where she acquired the habit of day-dreaming. The
lack of education of the poor peasant girl Marguerite is revealed by her
profession; she becomes the courtesan Lady of the Camellias.
Only three of the nine women are treated favourably in terms their
intellectual capacities. Each of these three women live in a common country
during a certain part of their lives. Corrine's mother is Italian and she chooses
to return to live there to perform her art freely; Lélia, a genius poet, lives in Italy;
and Mme Gervaisais, the intellectual French woman, prefers to settle in Italy to
live freely with her son. The choice of Italy isn't a coincidence as this country
was renowned as a place where women could perform their intellectual
capacities freely.1
CONCLUSION
Consequently, all the novels we have analysed reflect the inferior
condition of the women of the epoch, either by their structures or by the
characteristics of the heroines and in most by both. Except for Thérèse Raquin
and Madame Gervaisais, these novels conform to the rule that women's
existence is defined in terms of the existence of men. The heroines are defined
according to the heroes; they become fictional characters thanks to the
existence of the male characters, so the novels create an illusion by revealing
women as the title heroine. The two exceptions which don't use heroines'
names as illusions are naturalist novels written towards the end of the epoch:
Thérèse Raquin and Madame Gervaisais. They really tell the stories of the
women who give their names to the novels.
However, the basic conclusion that all of the nine novels are marked
either by the inferiority of the women or by the decline or punishment of the
ones who challange this status still holds.
Indeed, this inferiority is not the arbitrary choice of the authors but
reflects the social reality. Moreover, most of them have a critical look
concerning women's status; especially women novelists, though conforming to
the rule of fictional relativity of women, are aware of the sexual discrimination
as a social reality and they criticize prejudices about women openly.
1
Condorcet. Cinq mémoires sur l'instruction publique. Flammarion. Paris, 1994, p. 100. The
feminist philosopher, while emphasizing the necessity of charging women to teach at mixed
public schools, gives the example of Italy where women scientists like Bassi and Agnesi had
chairs in Bologne University.
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In Corrine and Lélia, the personalities of the heroines differ from the
others. Even if Mme de Staël and George Sand obey the general rule of the
fictional relativity of women in the beginning and in the end of their novels, they
reject all prejudices concerning the weakness and mental inferiority of the
women and describe them as strong, imposing, talented, educated,
independent and magnificent women who are mentally superior to many men
1
around them. These two novelists emphasize also the fears of ordinary men
about intelligent and independent women which could also be their own
experience. Though reflecting male dominant habits in fictional framework of
their novels, these women indeed take a critical position regarding women's
status and they show us how social prejudices condemn intellectual and,
therefore, independent women.
1
According to Bolster, apart from Fourriérist and Saint-Simonian theroretical writings, the novels
of Madame de Staël and George Sand also influenced the women of the epoch. op. cit. p. 25.
13
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